A Northlake restaurant scheduled to hold a fundraiser for the Lakeside City Alliance on Tuesday did not back out of the event after some angry Tucker residents protested the restaurant's involvement on Facebook, the restaurant's general manager said this week.
The alliance announced the cancellation of the April 2 event last week after it said residents on several anti-alliance Facebook pages and groups threatened to protest Marlow's Tavern at 4156 Lavista Road if it went forward with the event. The alliance called out two Facebook sites, Tucker Town Talk and Save Tucker From Lakeside City, specifically.
"Marlow's Tavern is a great neighborhood business, and we understand their concern for protecting their business from negative media coverage," the alliance wrote in a Facebook post and an email newsletter to supporters. "It is very disappointing that friends and neighbors will not have the opportunity to spend money at Marlow's and learn about LCA next Tuesday night."
But the restaurant didn't cancel on the alliance, said Torleif Hoff, Marlow's Tavern's general manager. Hoff said he discussed the Internet backlash to the event with an alliance representative, and then the alliance wanted to change the event date to one later this month that Marlow's couldn't accommodate. (Alliance Chairman Mary Kay Woodworth initially told Patch the fundraiser was being canceled so it could be rescheduled for a date not during spring break to draw more residents.)
Hoff said some residents believed the restaurant was hosting or sponsoring the fundraiser when it was only the alliance's chosen location.
"I just try to run my business," he said. "I don't even know what it's all about. ... I think we're being used by both sides unfortunately."
Woodworth said Tuesday she was made aware of the event's cancellation after a supporter organizing the fundraiser told her about the threats and said it needed to be rescheduled somewhere else. She declined to name that person. A number of supporters volunteering for the alliance have asked that their names not be disclosed due to the volatility of cityhood issues.
Cheryl Miller, who created the Save Tucker From Lakeside City page, said she was surprised her site was called out by the alliance. Miller, who said she and several others administer the Facebook page and contribute to it, occasionally blogs on Patch. The Facebook page did tell residents to email the restaurant and ask them not to service the fundraiser, but Miller said no one she knew of threatened anyone there with anything.
"I know that we didn't do anything that was remotely close to that. We're not trying to cause a battle," she said. "I was just trying to help out my community by setting up the Facebook page and then letting people talk about whatever they want to talk about."
Miller was criticized on Facebook and Patch sites in Tucker and North Druid Hills-Briarcliff for her connection to the Facebook page. But she said the dispute did help the site somewhat. It boosted the page's number of Facebook friends, and she got several new requests for "Save Tucker From Lakeside City" lawn signs that she's helping to distribute.
"I'm really just kind of embarrassed about the whole thing because it just became personal," she said.